Europe 2009 - Chris and Emily

Porky pies!

Chris and Emily — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Well, Chris and I can now admit that we told a few little porky pies... We had originally thought that we would spend 3 weeks discovering Thailand, relaxing on a beach, book in one hand and a icy cold drink in the other, but we decided to skip this at the last minute and head home. Three reasons for this really:

1) We were tired

2) The thought of lugging a back pack around for a further 3 weeks brought me to my knees screaming a long winded "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and throwing a tantrum that could rival any 2 year old... and

3) Money was running low. And while everyone knows that Thailand is in fact one of the cheapest countries a westerner could visit, we figured we'd be better off bringing our last few dollars home rather than staggering home completely broke.

It was a bit of a kafuffle trying to get home though and we didn't know until the Friday night if we COULD really fly back (remember we left Saturday!) so we didn't tell anyone other than Chris' brother (who happens to be a travel agent and used all his skills to become the saint who got us home!) and of course Luke.

It was a sad day leaving the UK and flying over Europe on route to Bangkok for an hour stop over and then onto Sydney. We'd had such an amazing, fun filled, site seeing packed adventure and caught up with old friends and made so many new ones that we had mixed emotions about leaving. We felt ready to go home, but felt that we were also leaving home at the same time, if that makes any sense? We know that we'll be back again in the not so distant future to visit friends and family, visit the spots that we particularly fell in love with (France for one!) and to visit some of the countries we had to miss this time around (Slovenia and Iceland spring to mind)

As I mentioned earlier, no one actually knew that we were coming home early, so it was great to see the expression on our loved ones face as we surprised them one by one, some screamed, some cried, some I thought were going to have heart attacks (but thankfully didn't... we'll know not to surprise my mother again, sorry mum) and since getting home have thrown ourselves into house hunting, it'll be nice if we can find an abode of our own that we don't have to share with 16 or so others! We're slowly coming back to reality bit by bit and have settled down fairly quickly, which I'm pleased about as I thought we'd find it far more difficult to do, but I think the fact that we were READY to come home helps significantly. We've hit reality so quickly that I in fact did a days work yesterday (shock horror I know!) and we both start properly in a weeks time, but for once we're both looking forward to this.

Our trip away was indeed a 'once in a life time' experience. We know that we most likely won't be able to do such a trip again so we're so thankful, happy and blessed that we were able to do so and would like to thank everyone who helped make our trip possible.

Our family and friends here in Tassie, our employers and colleagues who didn't object too loudly to us taking 6 months leave, to Sven who was able to help us out with some of nitty gritty bits and bobs of traveling(and a few freebies!!) Luke for joining us when we were needing a touch of home (we had a great time!) And of course our friends and family in Europe for their constant, sincere and amazing hospitality: Sue, Patrick, Rachie, Ann, Bryan, Martin, Jen, Anya, Max, Inga, Mari, Mattia, Marco, Lidija, Heidi, Horst, Yanis, Maija and their family, Barbara, Dell and Tony, Kris and Paul for showing us La Rochelle in a way that only the French could and to all those who I may very forgettably and regrettably forgot, I didn't mean to intentionally do so believe me!!

We had a blast, we love you all and can only say "watch this space... we'll be back!!"

The End.

We can't believe this is our last day in the UK!

Chris and Emily — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Wow. Time sure has flown! It feels as if we only arrived yesterday, stepping off the plane looking new and in awe of everything and now have to pack and head off back in the direction of Oz. We're looking forward to the rest of our trip in Thailand but at the same time are sad to leave Europe. It's been an amazing 5 months here, so full of adventure, fun, experiences, sights and laughter and much friendship. We won't foget these times and the amazing trip we've had, they're cemented in our memory... and we also have 10,000+ photos to look through...

It really wasn't much of a day today. A trip to the bank to sort out accounts, last trip to the post office (we can say with all honesty we hate the UK postal system) and... cleaning. SO much cleaning. Not because we're dirty people or anything, we just want to leave Sue and Patricks house as clean and homey as possible, though, in saying that, we did leave a little mess with the packing, which we've cleaned.

We are a little worried about the weight limit we have. We think we could be a little over the limit, so here's hoping that tomorrow when we pop the luggage on the scales they prove us to be wrong and actually reveal us to be underweight, but we wont hold our breath!

So, this is our last blog from the UK, we hope you've enjoyed reading of our European adventure and will continue to follow us as we head to Thailand.

Cheers from the UK.

Early morning goodbye to Luke

Chris and Emily — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

3.30am is early. Very early. Infact so early it is still pitch black, the stars are still sparkling and there is no one else on the roads to London… we know this as it was the time we were up today in order to take Luke to the airport! The drive from Chipping to Heathrow takes just over an hour we have discovered, which really isn’t that long. It was sad to say goodbye to Luke today, it really feels as if he only turned up yesterday and now we have to say goodbye. We’ve had a really great time with my brother, showing him some of the sights that we came across and loved, introducing him to people we’d met along our travels, but more so, just spending time with him and having our own adventures with him and discovering things together. It’s been a great time and we’ll miss him. He still won’t tell us where he is off too or what he’s up too… which is both exciting and frustrating!! I know that wherever it is he’s going he’s going to have a great time and enjoy himself and come back with many stories and adventure tales!

Once we returned to Chipping Chris and I fell back into bed and didn’t rise again until close to midday, we were knackered! We only had 2 hours sleep through out the night! Once up we pottered about the house, cleaning and looking at the things we had to take care of. We leave on the 12th bound for Bangkok which will be nice and also means we’re closer to home. We’ve enjoyed our stint in Europe immensely, had an absolute ball, but I think we’re both in a way ready to head home now, and dare I say it, perhaps even ready to go back to work… (We’re sick I know! )

A quiet afternoon filled with general pottering and doing our own thing, reading, bath, DVDs and computer games... a nice way to relax before the craziness of proper house cleaning and packing tomorrow and then airports, jet lag and millions of people in Thailand!!

It's official: we hate packing, but love chinese food!

Chris and Emily — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We picked Luke up from the station today at about 10am or so. He’d had a great night with his mates, having dinner, drinks and watching the footy, typical boy stuff, and as much as he wanted to stay on there he also knew he had to come home and pack himself. Luke is off tomorrow on a mystery trip… He knows where he is off to but no one else does, we have to wait for his postcards, it all sounds incredibly exciting and curious, we can’t wait to see where he heads off too!! The boy sure knows how to create mystery and evoke curiousness!! We came home and all had a chance to pack up our stuff, took a break, packed some more and eventually said “bugger this, lets go to dinner” So we head off to a lovely Chinese place that was both cheap and served great food and had a really nice ‘last supper’ before coming home and watching a little bit of the footy (soccer to you and I) a DVD and then into bed for our incredibly early start tomorrow.

Another bag to lug and love

Chris and Emily — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Okay, today we actually did something about the packing situation. After dropping Luke at the train station for his trip to London Chris and I head into Cambridge to pick up another suitcase or backpack. While we haven’t brought too much during this trip, just little knick knacks and pictures really, we have realized that our packs are not big enough to hold all the little extra bits and bobs. We’re under weight for what we have, but our bags just aren’t big enough… so off to an Oxfam shop we went and found a lovely big solid suitcase for a tenner. We were very happy with this find, especially as we later saw a similar case in a shop front for 80 quid, we scored a real bargain! We decided that seeing as this would probably be our last trip to Cambridge to enjoy this outing and take a last look about, so we head to the market where we heard an amazing busker, we had a chat to him later in the day and were delighted to hear that he’s actually touring Tassie next month! We’ll be sure to look out for him and his band mates (they’re called Passenger for anyone who is interested!) We spent a few hours looking about this lovely college town before deciding that we should head home and now attempt to PACK this new case… oooohhhh, I hate packing!! But this is what we did. After this packing attempt we settled down in front of the telly and watched another episode of Jamie’s America before retiring to bed.

Our highlight today was a 3 km walk to get brocolli, oh yes, we're living it up big time here in the UK!

Chris and Emily — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Another very quiet day that didn’t see us do much. The highlight was a 3km walk into Buntingford to buy some broccoli for tonight’s roast… I know, hold onto your hat material! We just pottered about the house, cooked and relaxed and thought about packing, and I mean thought about it, we didn’t actually get around to it at all!

District 9

Chris and Emily — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

After our day out yesterday we decided to have another quiet day at home before heading into Stevenage and seeing a movie called District 9. Everything was so quiet today, so still and sleepy, I guess that’s what happens on a Sunday, everyone seems to disappear getting ready for the week ahead, but it just felt too quiet today after yesterday’s hustle and bustle in London! It was a long, drawn out day for us and after the movie had a quick meal before returning home and chilling out doing our own thing. (ie Playing on the PC, guitar and reading!)

Abbey Road and platform 9 3/4...

Chris and Emily — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Well, today was the day for it. Chris and I had to leave the house, we’ve been holed up in our safe cocoon for a few days now and decided that today was the day to get out and go into the “big smoke” once more. So, up early and we all head to the local train station and into London where we all did some last minute sight seeing. For Chris and I this may well be our last trip into London before heading home, so we wanted to go in once more and just see it one last time. When we got off the train we came across platform 9 ¾, those who are familiar with Harry Potter will know that this is the magical train platform in the movies. It’s funny, we’ve been to Kings Cross Station so many times over the last 5 months or so and this is the first time we’ve come across this little tourist attraction! It is, as it suggests, between platforms 9 and 10, and is down a little alley way, quite cool really!

After this we head to Oxford Street where we did a little bit of shopping and then head onto the tube in the direction of Abbey Road.

I don’t know what we were expecting Abbey Road to look like, but it certainly wasn’t a lovely tree lined street in a quiet, nice neighborhood, which to look at, seemed to be a rather expensive area to reside! We made the minute walk to the Abbey Road studios and crossing which was made famous by the Beatles record cover. It was nice to see this for ourselves and to be able to take some photos of the record company, the crossing and the road signs. We spent some time here and then in the little souveniour store that is found just near the tube station.

We said goodbye to Luke then as he was off to meet up with one of his mates who lives in London and Chris and I head off to Portobello Markets for a bit of a look and to find the travel book shop that is featured in the movie “Nottinghill” this worked out well actually as we really did need to visit a travel book store anyhow and pick up a book for our up coming trip to Bangkok!

The market today was completely jam packed with people, it was almost impossible to walk anywhere and after awhile I have to say that this became tiring and frustrating. While the market here was nice, it was nothing like the Salamanca Market back home, which I have to say is first class and the best market I’ve been to anywhere in the world. We looked about here for some time and around the area of Notting Hill, going to a little café for a cup of coffee and a little sit down before heading back to Kings Cross and meeting Luke for the train home later that afternoon.

It was a nice day and Chris and I feel now that we have seen all that we want to see in London. Sure we didn’t get around to doing a few things that we wanted such as the London Eye or a west end play, but those things will be there when we come back which we hope to do in a few years time, we have to save something for then! Luke had a nice time catching up with his friend and is going to catch up with them again later in the week, which will be great for him, there’s nothing like catching up with old mates and having a laugh!

While Luke goes to London, we stay in bed!

Chris and Emily — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Luke has really caught the travel bug since being here and today took a trip to London to check the sights there again. Chris and I have been really content in pottering about the house and just generally relaxing, it’s something we haven’t been really able to do for a few months. I mean, sure we’ve had a day here or a day there, but nothing in session like this, it’s been great! Sleep ins, reading, baths, DVDs and for Chris, computer games (his real relaxation method!) We picked Luke up from London and he filled us in all the things he’d gone and seen through out the day and showed us the bits he’d brought which were all really great, and also which included a mini guitar which is awesome! It’s nice to hear Luke play the guitar again; I’ve missed it since being gone! London has so many really great stores and you can pick all sorts of goods up which are harder to find back home. It was a nice evening listening to Luke play the guitar and just chatting and relaxing, and all in all a nice way to finish off a nice day!

Such a quiet day there's hardly any sense blogging!

Chris and Emily — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Another quiet day today which saw much the same as yesterday, sleep ins, pottering about the house, Luke took another visit to Cambridge to finish off his site seeing and buy a few bits and bobs and we had another yummy curry dinner! As I said, much the same as yesterday

Sleep in, DVDs and a yummy meal

Chris and Emily — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

With such a huge day of travel yesterday we were all kind of bushed today and rewarded ourselves with a nice long sleep in, which was just what we all needed to be honest. When we did all rise Luke decided to take a trip into Cambridge while Chris and I pottered about the house, doing the mundane chores of life like washing and cooking dinner. It was a nice day of ‘nothingness’ just to relax, have a nice shower and the likes. Luke eventually returned home and after catching up and relaxing with a DVD and a yummy dinner we all crashed into bed once more!

On the bus, off the bus, on the bus, off the bus, on the train, off the train...

Chris and Emily — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Oh my goodness, today took FOREVER! We had to be up bright and early to get to the bus station an hour before the bus left, which we did, but were then told by the check in desk we were too early and couldn’t do this (they send such mixed messages here in Europe!) so we sat about waiting to check in, and finally when we could do so stood in line for a long long time. Eventually we were allowed on the bus but had to wait while an interpreter came on to the bus to sort out an argument that was taking place between some passengers, when that was sorted we were able to leave, finally.

The bus ride to start with wasn’t too long, we were all doing okay, but then, as we got to the boarder area and all had to pile off the bus with all your bags and goods and go through customs and pass port checks, we began to become weary. It seemed to take along time to get through these two areas, and then, once we all piled back onto the bus and went through a toll gate, we all had to pile back off the bus and go through this again for the UK side of things, it was really rather tiring. Finally, with everyone on board and our passports filled with an extra two stamps, the bus drove onto a train. Yes, you read that right, the bus drove onto a train, which was then going in a tunnel under the English Channel. It was really odd and for me, slightly claustrophobic inducing! I had to get off the bus and go and wait on the side lines where I felt there was more space. This part of the trip didn’t take too long, about 40 minutes, and it wasn’t too bad, gave us a chance to walk about a little and stretch the legs. Back on the bus then and a further two hours until we got to London.

Off we got at Victoria Station and onto the tube, up to Kings Cross, onto another train to Royston and then a taxi from Royston to Chipping… and home just in time to see the start of Jamie Oliver’s new show… phew! It was a loooong day

The biggest and best sites of Paris

Chris and Emily — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What a huge day we had today, so busy! We all managed a small sleep in today and made our way down stairs for our breakfast before hitting the sites of Paris for the day. However, before we could take in all the sites, we had to sort out our bus tickets back to the UK, so, after hunting about for the main office of this company, finally finding them an hour later; we head off in the direction of Notre Dam. The boys looked about the outside and then went indoors for a tour while I waited out side, applying much sun cream and watching fellow tourists be hit up by the scam artist ‘beggars’ Many many said no, but I saw one young guy fish about in his bag and give one some coins and I just wanted to rush over and take it back for him, he seemed too innocent and I just wanted to warn him “DON’T!!” but I guess we learn these things for ourselves don’t we?

The boys took their time and once they returned and we had some photos, we head off towards the Eiffel Tower. I love this place. The Eiffel Tower itself is not that amazing, infact you’d almost say it was a little ugly, but the atmosphere around this place, and all the parks that you can sit in, are just lovely. So, as Luke went up the tower and had a bit of a look about, Chris and I took refuge under a shady tree in the park and rest a little. Your feet tend to hurt a bit when you’re in Paris. Luke was suitably impressed with the Eiffel Tower too, and when he returned we head to the best spot we know of and took some pictures in front of the Tower, I love these photos too!

The next spot to see was the Arch De Triumph, which we walked too. It didn’t seem like it was that far away, but my gosh were our legs a little sore by the time we got there. We walked to the middle of the Arch and took a little break and watched in horror as 4 silly people ran from the other side of the road to the middle with suitcases. I am completely surprised that they were not hit by a car, though, several horns did blare at them!

We then took a little tour down the ritz streets that come off the Arch De Triumph, Louis Vutton, Chanel etc etc, all those big names that are meant to cause mass excitement in women and make us “ooohhh and ahhhhh” but do nothing for me. I just don’t understand why anyone would want to pay thousands of Euros on a little clutch bag, which for the record, I believe are really quite disgusting design wise… anyhow, we passed these stores and continued on until we found smaller, nicer stores to stick our heads into and look about, one being the Nescafe store which sell all sorts of amazing coffee machines and flavours of coffee, it was Chris’ heaven and it was hard for us to pull him away from here.

The day was getting on now and we were all in need of a good rest and or, lie down, so we head back to the hostel for a bit of a break. While Chris and I took a walk to find some dinner (and in the process walked down the canals and found some lovely relaxed little spots to sit and have a picnic) Luke met up with some of his friends who are also staying at the hostel, it’s a small little world! Chris and I returned from having a yummy Chinese meal and said bye to Luke who was heading out with his friends to see the Eiffel Tower at night and have a bit of dinner. While Luke did this Chris and I relaxed at the hostel down in the bar area… but then, a little drama happened…

Chris and I sat at a large window, which, on the other side was the designated smoking area for the hostel. We were chatting away and on the computer when we couldn’t help but smell a burning sort of smell, we looked about but couldn’t see anything to indicate a fire so didn’t think much more of it, until we saw the bar man grab two carafes of water and rush out side and on the other side of the window to us, pour this water down a grate, and then do so again and then, satisfied with his effort went back to the bar… I was watching all this with interest (plus, Chris was on the P.C so I was a bit bored by myself) then, one of the really nice waitress’ went and had a look and then raced inside yelled at the reception in French and then RACED off down the road to the fire station that, thankfully for her, only 200 meters away (they were our neighbors across the road, handy!) she came rushing back with a fireman who was later joined by two of his colleagues and they were all looking down this grate, pulling it up, shining their torch, pouring water etc etc, they stayed for a little while until I guess they were satisfied and left. Very entertaining for myself! Thankfully, apart from the liters and liters of water that was poured down this grate, no more action was required and we all went to bed safe and sound.

Oh la la, it's Paris again!

Chris and Emily — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Another loooong day of travel! It started off alright; Chris and Max head off to see the rest of the rocks while Luke and I packed up the last of our stuff and took another early morning stroll to the beach and the sea side town surrounding it. The boys eventually made there way back to the B&B and we hit the road, Max was going to drop us at a train station today so we could head to Paris.

Everything was going okay, but we eventually needed a stop to refuel, buy up on some edibles and go to the loo etc etc… and I’m so glad we did it when we did… We just pulled out back onto the highway and were happily toddling along when we saw it… brake lights in front of us coming on and traffic coming to a stop. Oh bugger another traffic jam. We came to a stop and watched as smoke began to billow from a vehicle about 400 meters in front of us. Luke and I got out of the car to stretch our legs (as was everyone else around us) and then we saw flames leaping into the air and a small “BOOM” something had exploded. Thick black smoke continued to pour into the sky and all we could think was “Geez, hope everyone’s alright and no one was hurt” and “oh boy, this is going to take a loooong time” We looked behind us and sure enough traffic was banking up fast. Fire engines, ambulances, police and later Hazard spill vehicles whizzed by us in great numbers and all we could do was sit here, waiting and waiting. We then noticed that a lot of the cars behind us were being incredibly illegal and turning around and driving down the one way street emergency lane. Then the cars in front of us began to do this and we were left wondering “do we do this too?” Behind us, about 400 meters away was a turn off, it just meant that we’d be going up a down ramp, but so was everyone else, and besides which it seemed that no one was allowed down this at the moment… so, after about an hour debating this, we decided to go for it. Max turned the car around and we whizzed up the road in the wrong direction and were instructed by police to head up the ramp. If the police were suggesting it then it wasn’t so bad to be doing it we figured later.

On the road again Max got us to our train station in time for the next train that left in an hour, so we head off on a small wander about the town looking through the windows as the shops were mostly closed being a Sunday. Time passed quickly and it was soon time for us to be getting on the train back to Paris. This meant saying goodbye to Max for the last time. It was hard. Max is such a wonderful, kind and friendly guy, we just wanted to bring him with us! It was sad to say goodbye to Max but know that we will keep in touch with him and will see him again sometime. We really think that he should come out to Australia, he’d love it there!

The train seemed to take FOREVER (reality it was only 3 hours) but it just seemed to trundle along at an incredibly slow pace. We eventually, after what seemed like eternity made it to our back packers and we happily crashed into bed that night and slept soundly.

The Carnac stones

Chris and Emily — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

After a quick breakfast we had to bid Inga farewell for the last time on this trip. We don’t like saying goodbye but we’re now becoming better at them as we’ve had to say it quite often over these past few weeks. Inga has been the perfect hostess and we will always be so grateful to her for allowing us to come and stay with her during her holidays and get to see another side to the French life. We will keep in touch with Inga and hope to see her again sometime soon, til then there is always email!

The drive to Carnac was suppost to be a 3 hour one, which is just the right amount of time really for a ‘short trip’ but, to our despair it took a few hours longer than that thanks to a large traffic jam. This was was not fun. We sat in the line of traffic for hours, in the sun and worst of all, needing to go to the loo really really badly!! Poor Max, the pressure was on with us all whining “Maaaax! It’s getting desperate now!!” but he rallied like a true hero and found us a detour and then a Maccas where we were able to relief our poor bladders. I think the French should be more equipped for these moments and have portaloos every km or so on the highways, it would make sense and put an end to embarrassing deaths such as “burst bladder” What really annoyed us was the fact that the ‘accident’ we had to jostle to pass was nothing more than a little rear ender, no huge damage and no one hurt, but still, everyone passing felt they had to slow riiiiiiiight down and have a good look, hence causing the long delay. Oh well. It’s over now!

We eventually made it to Carnac and it has to be said that this is a lovely, relaxed little town. It just has this lovely feel to it and we all felt ourselves relaxing the moment we got out of the car. We stopped by the information desk and picked up some ideas for accommodation and then went on a walk to find this one B&B. It was a 15 minute walk (the very nice but drunk French man we had been bailed up by told us that it was a 5 minute walk… he was lying) and took us down to the sea side, it was lovely! The B&B had room for us all and we couldn’t help but marvel at the rooms… they were… wow, quite bad! The rooms were themed by colours, which isn’t so bad really, but the orange room that Luke and Max had the joy of staying in was insanely orange and the pink room Chris and I had the pleasure of sleeping in was also pretty, well, pink. So much so that these rooms kind of hurt your eyes after awhile, so it’s a good thing that you’re only in the room really to sleep.

Chris and Max took off to check out the Carnac rocks and Luke and I took off to discover the rest of the beach side town. There were many many tourists here but it didn’t have that over whelming feel to it, it just felt really relaxed and chilled out, it was nice.

The boys eventually returned from there rock site seeing and we then head out to grab a bite to eat at a little restaurant down the road topped it off with a crepe for dessert and then hit the amusement arcade for a bit of stress relief. The boys had quite a large gathering around them as they played some zombie killing game and again as Luke played a boxing game, and roused a cheer from the audience as he knocked out his opponent with one second remaining, it was quite an ordeal! Just as we were leaving the boys all turned, a game had caught there eye… it was robot soccer. So, they all had to have a turn and I have to say it did look like fun and again they drew quite a crowd of onlookers. To bad we weren’t charging people to watch, we’d have made a few extra bucks. After all this amusement we head back to the B&B where we watched a few episodes of the IT Crowd, an English show we’re all in love with and think is hilarious before going to bed and shutting our eyes very very tight to escape the glare of colour!

Lazy beach day

Chris and Emily — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

As Inga went off for another lesson today (this time in surfing) Max, Luke, Chris and I head back to the little beach side town where we hopped on the net to check mail and see what is going on in the world of web. It was another lovely day and Chris and I stole some quiet time and took a walk along the beach where we were able to sit and chat and spend some time alone for a bit. Not to say we haven’t been enjoying the others company, we have very much, but it was nice to get some time alone, even if it were just for an hour or so.

It was a lazy day, one filled with coffee consumption and lazing about in the sun. It was a nice way to finish off our stay in Gruse with our good friends Max and Inga. We head off to Carnac tomorrow with Max, another little beach side town with the added bonus of fields that are just covered in stones, similar to “Stonehenge” Inga sadly, won’t be joining us, so we will be saying goodbye to her tomorrow and again, she is another good friend that we don’t know how to thank for all her hospitality and kindness, she has been amazing and caring and has opened her home to us. She is another good friend that it will be sad to say goodbye too.

It was a quiet night with a yummy dinner, some packing and then a few hands of the game “Ba*%ard” a card game that we taught the guys, and who picked it up very quickly and managed to beat us in a few times. After this it was time to say goodnight and head off for some good old shut eye.

Aquarium and dinner

Chris and Emily — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Despite having been there before we head into La Rochelle for the day to have a look about and to visit the Aquarium. Chris and Inga decided to pass on the Aquarium and instead look about the town so Max; Luke and I head off to look at all the amazing fish and underwater life. I had the chance to visit this aquarium back in June, and it was as good as I remember it. Both Luke and Max seemed taken back and in awe of it too and took their time in taking it all in.

After wondering about the cool underwater landscape for several hours we made our way back to our meeting spot and met up again with Chris and Inga and then head off to find a nice restaurant for dinner. We eventually found one that was quiet and comfortable and with a lovely, friendly waitress. Our meal was lovely and relaxed and we all left feeling full and content.

After this we took a little stroll around the town, taking in the port as it was all lit up beautifully with a golden glow. We walked on until we found a nice little pub and stopped for a drink and a game of ‘fuse ball’ which we have not played before but were taught the rules by Max. Max was the reigning champion in this game and I can honestly say that we were in no way shape or form a match for him! As we walked back to the car we passed a great busking band who were singing all sorts of fun, thigh slapping, feet tapping tunes you had to clap along too, they were great! We watched for a little while before heading to the car where we made the quiet trip home, we were exhausted!

To market, to market to buy.. kilos and kilos of seafood!

Chris and Emily — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It was another day of sleep ins and slow waking today before hitting up the local food market in search of fresh seafood for tonight’s seafood extravaganza that the boys have been talking about since arriving.

The market was about a half hour drive away and we all squished into Ingas car and toddled off for the ‘day out’ The market was held in a large old shed and was filled with stalls selling all sorts of edible goods ranging from nuts and vegetables to bread, cheese and seafood. It took a little while to collect all our goods and once purchased we decided to reward ourselves with a coffee across the road before heading to an old church that proudly juttered out across the town. It was a nice old church, stain glass windows and big portraits of Christ being crucified everywhere. I quite like looking at paintings of Christ but I do have to say, I am becoming quite tired of seeing him look so pitiful and sad upon the cross. Surely there must be an artist out there somewhere who could paint him in happier times? Perhaps when he was turning water into wine or healing the sick, or even say, rising the dead, or with His apostles. There are many factors of Christ’s life that could be depicted but it seems everyone is set on showing Him in a pitiful state and when it’s all doom and gloom. Oh well. I’d draw one but I’m fairly sure the church wouldn’t proudly frame a stick figure Christ in bright crayon colours.

After this we all head back to the house to relax in our own ways, reading, writing, running, cooking… it was a nice afternoon.

The boys then got onto the seafood extravaganza that was tonight’s meal. Mussels, Langoustines, Cod etc etc, they tell me it was good. As I’m allergic to all things that live in the sea I was the odd one out today and had some grilled chicken instead, but that was fine, it was done to perfection so it was yummy.

We spent some time sitting outside looking at the stars and chatting before calling it a night and heading to bed.

Aussie burgers all round

Chris and Emily — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We three Aussies had been talking yesterday of the traditional Aussie Burger that we so love back home. We made it sound so yummy and delicious (which it is!) that our German friends asked us if we could make these for dinner tonight, which we agreed too, so, it was back off to the Super U again today.

It wasn’t so bad, we decided to show the boys the beach that we had found yesterday and we again looked about the little town, picking up some postcards for those back home and head back home.

Inga took to her wind surfing class today and seemed to have a great time learning this. While Inga was at her class, Luke told us of a crop he had come across yesterday and wished to show us, just so that we could clarify to him what it was… We smelt it before we got there… then we saw it. A HUGE, MASSIVE, ENORMOUS Marijuana crop. It was just enormous. We took a drive past just taking in how huge this place was before making our way home to tell Inga of our find. It must be legal here in France, as this Field wasn’t hidden and as I keep saying, it was HUGE!

It was a quiet day and once we were home we got stuck into making our burgers which were, as always, delicious and devoured very very quickly!

Super us for surviving Super U!

Chris and Emily — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We managed a little bit of a lie in this morning before we head out to check out another beach town near Gruse. Inga is currently looking into wind surfing lessons so we hit the beaches and asked about and finally found a suitable one which she will start tomorrow. We also had a little look about the sea side town, buying one or two little items before heading to the Super U, which is another large supermarket. We thought the supermarkets in Germany were crowded but we were wrong, they are NOTHING compared to the supermarkets in a tourist spot in France, now these ones are hell!! We had to do a large-ish shop for the 5 of us over the next few days but we wanted to do this quickly and get the hell out of there, it was too much!

After getting home we all did our own thing, Inga went for a little nap and Luke and I ended up going for a nice long walk in the heat of the day. The roads were deserted and nothing but dirt paths that lead you past corn crops and large Fields of fading sunflowers, which would have been amazing to see in full bloom but it looks as if we just missed this. As Luke and I walked along these dusty, dirty paths we came across a large green Field and we could make out in the distance a large animal that we had never seen before and about 4 smaller ones that looked like ferrets or something. We have no idea what these animals were, nor could anyone tell us, we only had suggestions of otters, ferrets and a badger.

Chris and Max turned up not long after Luke and I returned from this walk and it was great to see Chris again and to give him a cuddle. I know it was only a night apart but it felt like a long time after having spent so much time with one another.

Dinner was a simple affair of chicken salad and some wine and a relaxed night of chatting and laughter before falling into bed for a good nights sleep.